Europe

[Furunculus]

Furunculus, could you do a Commonwealth thread? (aka, similar to what this has become)

Would be interested in talking about that.

it would be interesting, as an successor to the Britain is not an island thread, but i am not yet focused upon the topic yet, perhaps you?

Louis - I have yet to see any sign that that EUrope is willing to let 2 billion people have free and unfettered access to its markets.

much easier to send them a few tractors, and a million Aid quango employees to make sure the EU baksheesh reaches the right swiss bank accounts.

[gaelic cowboy]

it would be interesting, as an successor to the Britain is not an island thread, but i am not yet focused upon the topic yet, perhaps you?

Louis - I have yet to see any sign that that EUrope is willing to let 2 billion people have free and unfettered access to its markets.

much easier to send them a few tractors, and a million Aid quango employees to make sure the EU baksheesh reaches the right swiss bank accounts.

The Commonwealth is even more a talkshop than the EU how long did it take to get Zimbabwe thrown out that time took ages if I remember correctly. Thankfully we threw off that useless piece of imperialist comfort blanket ages ago.

[Furunculus]

too true, but i don't want the Commonwealth to be a political union.

however, we are destroying the opportunity of treating it as an informal economic union my putting ourselves on the wrong side of the EU's subsidy/tariff barrier, which by definition locks us out of better opportunities to boost free-trade with english speaking nations with whom we already have a long history and excellent links.

[Furunculus]

and we willingly signed up to this?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...of-London.html

Nicolas Sarkozy hails EU appointment to 'clamp down on City of London'
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has hailed the appointment of EU’s new finance chief as a chance to clamp down on City of London excesses, in a direct rebuke to the British government’s handling of the economic crisis.


By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM GMT 02 Dec 2009

In a speech in the south of France, Mr Sarkozy said the appointment of Michel Barnier was a victory for European economic modelling.

Mr Sarkozy blamed the “free-wheeling Anglo-Saxon” model, favoured by Britain and the United States, for the global economic downturn while praising European thinking which “had nothing to do with excesses of financial capitalism”.

But Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, delivered a blunt warning to Mr Barnier against interfering with regulations governing the City of London, saying any foreign meddling by the EU would breed “confusion”.

In his speech, Mr Sarkozy failed to hide his satisfaction at the chance to try and control British banks and financial services through his former agriculture minister.

“Do you know what it means for me to see for the first time in 50 years a French European commissioner in charge of the internal market, including financial services, including the City [of London]?” Mr Sarkozy said in La-Seyne-Sur-Mer.

“I want the world to see the victory of the European model, which has nothing to do with the excesses of financial capitalism.”

Mr Barnier's role as Europe’s new internal markets commissioner gives him power over financial regulatory reform, with France seen as favouring a tough stance on issues like bonuses and curbs on hedge funds.

Mr Barnier, whose new role allows him to oversee a radical revamp of financial regulations to prevent any new economic crisis, has stressed he knows the importance of the City of London for growth in Britain and Europe.

But some British financial service leaders and Downing Street fear Mr Barnier will push for stricter regulation at the expense of the City.

On the eve of a meeting of EU finance ministers in Brussels, to discuss financial sector reform, Mr Darling said it would be "self-defeating" to drive out business to other, less tightly regulated, jurisdictions.

Writing in The Times, Mr Darling said it was “undeniably in Europe’s interest that Britain’s financial hubs, the City of London and Edinburgh, flourish”.

“We must resist measures, however superficially alluring, that could undermine the effective functioning of our cherished single market,” he wrote.

“National supervisors, such as the FSA, must remain responsible for supervising individual companies.”

He added: “Making companies directly accountable to more than one authority is a recipe for confusion.

Mr Darling said the city was building on its strengths, he argued it was “too simplistic to argue that financial centres in Europe are just competing among themselves”.

“The reality is the real competition to Europe’s financial centres comes from outside our borders. And that London, whether others like it or not, is New York’s only rival as a truly global financial centre,” Mr Darling said.

“No other centre in Europe offers the same range of services: banking, insurance, fund management, law and accountancy.

“It is in all of Europe’s interests that they prosper alongside their close European partners.”

In an interview on French television, Lord Turner, the chairman of the Financial Services Authority, played down the appointment as he tried to defuse any row with France.

"I'm sure Mr Barnier will be attempting to work out what is effective regulation for the good of the whole of Europe,” he said.

this should be worrying for lefties that like all those expensive social policies, given how much revenue the city generates for the exchequer!

[Louis VI the Fat]

Some thoughts:

1) Sarkozy was elected on his program of more 'Anglostyle' liberalism. He is a bit short of memory.

2) Brown wanted Blair. When that failed, he wanted the post of 'Foreign Minister'. Meanwhile, British eurocrats were pulling their hair out in despair, begging Westminster to claim the post internal markets commissioner instead. London was not paying attention.

3) Good. Go Barnier. The crisis has made me reconsider many of my ideas. Unbridled non-regulation of the financial markets is a recipe for disaster. It has brought very little real wealth, made some people very rich, and undermined the financial stability of many.
Markets serve the people, not the other way round.

4) Thank God there is a EU, so we have the critical weight to decide for ourselves whether we want unbridled plunder neoliberalism, instead of being at the mercy of others. (See 'Argentina', 'Russia 1995', etc)

[Beskar]

3) Good. Go Barnier. The crisis has made me reconsider many of my ideas. Unbridled non-regulation of the financial markets is a recipe for disaster. It has brought very little real wealth, made some people very rich, and undermined the financial stability of many.
Markets serve the people, not the other way round.

It is a shame many people forget this, or choose to ignore it.

[Furunculus]

Some thoughts:

1) Sarkozy was elected on his program of more 'Anglostyle' liberalism. He is a bit short of memory.

2) Brown wanted Blair. When that failed, he wanted the post of 'Foreign Minister'. Meanwhile, British eurocrats were pulling their hair out in despair, begging Westminster to claim the post internal markets commissioner instead. London was not paying attention.

3) Good. Go Barnier. The crisis has made me reconsider many of my ideas. Unbridled non-regulation of the financial markets is a recipe for disaster. It has brought very little real wealth, made some people very rich, and undermined the financial stability of many.
Markets serve the people, not the other way round.

4) Thank God there is a EU, so we have the critical weight to decide for ourselves whether we want unbridled plunder neoliberalism, instead of being at the mercy of others. (See 'Argentina', 'Russia 1995', etc)

1. no doubt, but by whose standards? it's all relative.

2. given that the EC economic section has been stuffed with brits for thirty years, we'll see how much real impact this guy has, but i agree it may be yet another poor labour decision.

3. the city has brought in a staggering ammount of tax revenue for the exchequer to blow in NHS improvement and child tax credits, along with every other half-cocked example of social engineering.

4. yes, the EU does have the ability to wall itself from global competition, and i can't see a faster way of creating economic stagnation which will accelerate europes decline in the coming century.

"Markets serve the people, not the other way round."
It is a shame many people forget this, or choose to ignore it.

if france gets her way, then the market will be serving someone elses 'people', and your social programs will go wanting.

[Louis VI the Fat]

yes, the EU does have the ability to wall itself from global competition, and i can't see a faster way of creating economic stagnation which will accelerate europes decline in the coming century.

We'll beat global capitalism into submission. It will crumble before our very eyes when a despairing world compares its misery to the superior European model.


Or not, and shortsightedness and a global rat race will revert us all back to 19th century Dickensian unbridled capitalism.